How to Write Proper IELTS Writing Essay

IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is probably the world’s most popular English Language proficiency test, taken by students when they are migrating elsewhere for their higher education. Today’s world makes it important that you know English language and converse in it as easily as the natives can. IELTS, therefore, tests your skills in that language and decides to send you ahead on your path or not. More than 10,000 organizations are seen resorting to the authenticity of IELTS, which makes the students realize the importance of this test.

IELTS is put forth by the British Council, along with IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English. The score you get from the test is applied by the Universities, but also by Governments and professional organizations – and that too, around the world. IELTS exam analyzes and examines students’ proficiency in the following aspects –Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. If you score well in this exam, the path of getting into your dream university (or job) becomes a lot clearer than before.

IELTS Writing exam

IELTS is of two types; IELTS Academic and the other is IELTS General Training. While the listening and speaking part remains the same for both of them, Reading syllabus and Writing sections beg to differ greatly in these two. The most difficult part of both the formats according to most of the people appearing for IELTS is writing tasks, and especially the essay.

People are provided with a topic, where they have to elaborate on it in their own words, but they make sure that the language is semi-formal or academically neutral. There is a need for focusing on the topic only, and not focus on the whole, of which topic is a part of. If you are supposed to, for example, right about the utility of water transportation, don’t write more about water or transportation, but concentrate on getting out the information of this type’s utility.

How to write an IELTS essay?

Any IELTS essay resembles your standard essay, it just needs to be shorter than usual. The key features of the essay include – Introduction, Body (divided into paragraphs) and Conclusion.

Introduction–This part will be evidently introducing your topic to the examiner. You need to keep this part as clear and coherent as possible. It forms the base for your argument that you will pose in your body. Basic facts would work well in this section. Don’t spend much time on introduction; you still need to catch up with your main points, in less time than you would usually need to write an essay.

Body – This is where you put forth the argument (or arguments) concerning the main topic. 20 minutes for this section would be sufficient, and a piece of cake if you have practiced writing an IELTS essay enough. Include only 2 or 3 paragraphs for this part – it will be more than enough. If you go on to agree/disagree with the topic, then strictly stick to that side; don’t propose both the sides, as the word count is less, and the time is even lesser.

Conclusion–In conclusion, it doesn’t have to be extravagant. You can wrap the entire essay up in just two or three sentences. The thing important here to remember is providing a succinct idea of all your ideas and arguments from the body, as well as something on the future, all of which will be in a concluding, no-further-argument tone.

Tips to remember

• Make sure you spend only 40 minutes on this task.
• At least 250 words are required for this section.
• Grammar and relevance are highly important
• Plagiarism will not be tolerated at all.
• Strictly no use of bullet points or note form. Should be written as full, wholesome and connected text.

You have got to understand your question. No, you won’t get more time to do that during the exam, and that is why studying and practicing beforehand will go a long way. Look at the potential keywords in the question and then piece around it a simple but perfect essay. Then once you know what you are going to write, map out your ideas. Maybe write it down in pointers – take no more than 5 minutes to do that – and then organize it. If you already have mapped out the topic in your head and also in front of you, it gets a lot easier.

There is nothing wrong with dropping in your personal opinion in the essay – the question actually asks for your views. To get this opinion, you will have to ask yourself questions relevant to the topic. Who knows it will help you to whip out even more ideas to bring together your essay. In all of this though, try to manage your time and get it completed before the allotted 40 minutes are up. There must be enough lexical resources, which is nothing by properly stocked vocabulary as well as the correct spellings, and grammar. It might sound difficult, but it’s not – you will cover this tip with practice and practice, and even more practice.

Example

Writing task 2 sample topic

Children who are brought up in families that do not have large amounts of money are better prepared to deal with the problems of adult life than children brought up by wealthy parents.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

ANSWER

Every problem these days finds its solution in money. An important advantage of these valuable pieces of paper is the easy availability of education for children. Parents can get their wards into the best schools and colleges if there is sufficient money on hand. However, debates are seen ensuing around on the topic of problems of adult life, and how adequately it is dealt with by children belonging to wealthy homes and middle class or lower-middle-class homes.

Half of the people are on the side of children belonging to poor parents, whereas the rest are in the favor of wealthy children, who are better equipped to deal with adult life. It is understandable that people will think of children from less wealthy families to have an advantage, for the fact that they had to struggle with difficulties and obstacles since the start of their lives. Many even had to work from an early age and solve their and their problems that arose in their lives on a daily basis. They might have toughened up, enough to meet their adult life with a resigned smile.

On the other hand, wealthy parents have the ability to send their children to excellent schools and universities, not to mention provide a proper and fulfilling life. Whatever the children wish for, they might get as soon as they demand, or at least, as soon as possible. These children are better exposed to society and the world as a whole, allowing them to develop their skills of social interaction and deal with global topics.

The children from poorer families are better equipped with the stress and problems of their adult life, according to me, as their whole life had problems like these, which they had to deal with all by themselves. However, I am not quick to say that wealthy children are not at all capable of handling their adult life. In the end, it actually comes down to the personalities of the children, the psychological and cultural influenced included.

Humans have become as complex as the world advances. Many factors influence the children these days, some of which only they know of. The answer of children from poorer families being more capable is true, but it belongs to the earlier days. To conclude, I believe that the children – whether wealthy or poor –if motivated enough, will find his or her way through the problems they encounter in their adult lives.

Analysis

Here, the first paragraph becomes the introduction, which provides an overall scenario for the topic – the importance of money and its effects. The next three paragraphs come together to form the body. It explores both the side of the topic, before giving the test taker’s views on the topic. The conclusion urges the readers to agree with the test-taker. The language is simple and easy to understand, and yet cohesive and coherent. There is no inclusion of bullets or note forms – and certainly, no plagiarism is seen here.

The essay task sees not only the way your mind works, but how knowledgeable are you in regards to the society you live in. This answer of yours will be assessed on the basis of task response, lexical resource, accuracy, and grammatical range, along with coherence and cohesion, obviously. The reflex of quick response is also studied, thus studying how fluent you are in the much-needed language of English.

IELTS takes your English skills seriously, and therefore, if you don’t study hard enough, and don’t practice writing essays enough, there’s a chance you won’t perform up to the mark in your final exam, and in turn, won’t get the desired and required marks. But don’t worry; study hard and trust your English – and you will get through.